Favre Fiasco Creates A Variety Of Sentiments

The only thing that quarterback Brett Favre has ever said about the allegations against him regarding Jenn Sterger and two massage therapists to become public came from his long time teammate and friend Ryan Logwell.

Longwell revealed before last Monday Night’s game against the Jets that Favre addressed the issue with teammates and apologized for causing a distraction. To date, that is his only real acknowledgement of the scandal to become public, and at the time he wasn’t happy that it became public at all.

“That is between me and my teammates. Apparently not all of them,” is how Favre responded to post game questions regarding Longwell’s revelation that Favre apologized to the team and even cried while doing so.

I remember watching the live press conference at the time and feeling especially awkward because I knew that he and Longwell have a long history, both on the field and off.

I was curious at the time what Longwell’s motives were for making Favre’s apology known to the public. Was it an attempt to show the softer side of Brett? Was it him just not realizing he should shut up? Was he trying to help?

After all, Longwell had a front row seat for how quickly it can all get out of hand. He lived in the same neighborhood as Tiger Woods and his family when that whole scandal unfolded. At one point, Longwell’s wife was even mistaken for Tiger’s wife (way to go, kicker) by the paparazzi.

At the time, Longwell expressed great concern for the Woods family.

“You just pray for his family,” Longwell said. “You pray for his wife and kids. Just pray that if what’s coming out is true that he can learn from it and move on.”

Perhaps that is what Longwell wants to see in this situation, the ability to learn and quickly move on.

It seems, however, that this story has at least a few more motions to go through before it dies. News broke Wednesday that Jenn Sterger has hired a lawyer to help her decide how to proceed and that the NFL has asked the editor of Deadspin to cooperate with the investigation.

It is uncertain how these events will affect the matter in the long run, and while many of writers will attempt to speculate what is coming next, I am going to refrain from doing so.

I’ve noticed a variety of reactions to this story. Some people think this is strictly a personal matter, which should be discussed only within the confines of the Favre household. Some people suggest that sexual harassment is indeed a big deal and that Favre has allegedly committed a crime and the media would not be doing their job if they didn’t discuss the issue at hand. Some people fall in between.

I’ll be honest with everyone out there on where I stand. On just about any blog, opinions are going to become obvious eventually anyways.

I think Favre is innocent until proven otherwise, but that the absence of any denial is awfully curious. After all, the media has been Brett’s best friend for the better part of two decades and has been one of his main tools in becoming as famous and rich as he has today. To make the conscious choice to abandon all previous strategies of using the media to sell himself suggests to me that there is no way in which Favre feels he can sell himself as the good guy int his situation, guilty or otherwise.

I also think football related publications, while sometimes crossing over into unnecessary tabloid-mode, have every reason to follow this story the same as any story that might involve a hefty fine or lengthy suspension of a high profile player.

Since I am a blogger that has never claimed to have any journalistic integrity, I have considered abandoning this story outright until a punishment is handed down or the situation is otherwise settled.

On the other hand, some might view that as some sort of favoritism towards Favre if, of course, they didn’t realize that I have never and will never like him or the fact that he decided to wear a purple jersey.

So, use the below poll, and of course the comments section to let me know how you feel. Should I cover it? Should others? Where should writers, journalists, and bloggers draw the line?

In the end, all Vikings fan should want is to move on like Longwell said, and watch the team win a Super Bowl.

7 Responses to “Favre Fiasco Creates A Variety Of Sentiments”

The NFL commish, Bowie Huhn, has it right. His philosophy seems to be, you can do whatever the hell you want in life, you just can’t do it in my league. The commish is trying to limit the idiots of the league (and there are plenty) from “soiling” the product. A player’s action doesn’t have to be illegal to hurt the team or league. The commish is trying to keep the product clean and above board, if a player is making bad decisions that will tarnish the league, he will be suspended.

If in the case of the Vikings, Banjo felt that he wanted to show a few women that even an old gun slinger can still use an Iphone and it tarnishes the NFL product, he may be suspended. If there is a potential our QB will be suspended, Freds thinks its probably worth reporting. With all that being said, Freds has no desire to read the transcript of the texts, nor see any pictures of Banjo’s wrangler. For that matter, Freds also doesn’t want to see any available video of Brian McKinnie smashing some security guard with a stop sign, or trumped up video from a Viking boat ride or Mark Chamura in a hot tub with ….. well, you get the picture.

Report the facts, how it will potentially impact my team (or negatively impact the Packers) and move on.

Let me just add that lets not just do lip service to the “leave-it-alone-lets-move-on” position. Let’s leave it alone and move on. I say feel free to “abandon”, Adam. Hear ye, hear ye! Lest anyone question otherwise, it is clearly on record that neither Adam nor Freds have any love for our rented QB.

(Feel free to do a piece on our offensive line, Adam. I have been “shut down” on that topic by a certain “shut down” corner.)

I choose the “Yes, someone has to hold these guys accountable” option. I think people like to say, “It’s not a big deal, he just sent some girl a picture of his ‘wrangler’ (to use Fred’s choice of diction, no pun intended… double whammy!!!)” But, here’s the deal… 99 percent of the time, if your average everyday person sent a picture of himself to a female coworker, without any sort of request for said picture from said female coworker, it would be considered sexual harassment. It is no different from that person walking over into her cubicle and dropping his shorts, turning around and walking away (completely out of the blue). This type of behavior (I think it’s pretty safe to say…) anywhere would be met with immediate termination. It also sets a horrible example for young people who are already doing stupid crap like this…

I’ve said all along, if Favre is in fact guilty, he is an idiot and deserves to be punished. Now, whether or not he’s guilty – who knows.

I think it should be reported to the extent of how it will affect the team and if there are any more substantial developments that clarify whether or not he’s guilty (which would ultimately end up affecting the team).

Your point is well taken, Brett, but needs to go one step further. If that happens in the workplace, will the boss call the media and say, “You guys should see what happened over here today”? No, of course not. There are data privacy issues all over such an incident. We should expect the league to investigate and take action as described by Freds. But when the question in the poll above comes up, “Should media sites like Vikings Gab, PFT, ESPN, etc. cover the Brett Favre allegations?”, I feel it is the right of Brett and Deanna Favre to keep that Tuesday discussion completely private, and for us to simply wait to hear whether or not any penalty comes to our QB from the league. Anything else is tabloid as far as I’m concerned.

I just figured out what is going on here with all of this talk about illeagal hits.
The NFL doesn’t care about these head shots, they are doing all of this to keep the Brett Favre affair off of ESPN.
Notice how no big stories have been run about Favre’s meeting with NFL security?
This is typical of scumby lawyer tactics, Goodell is a lawyer, right?
It’s time to fire that slimeball before he ruins the NFL.